She is not fit to go down to
the door."
After parting with his mother, Dick went in to see Annie.
"You must not cry so, child," he said, as she rose from the divan,
with her face swollen with crying. "I am sure that you will be very
happy here, until I come back."
"I know, Dick; but it won't be at all the same, without you."
"Oh, you will have plenty to do, and you will soon fall into regular
ways. Besides, you know, you have got to comfort my mother, and keep
up her spirits, and I quite rely upon you to do that."
"I will try, Dick," she said earnestly.
"Now, goodbye, Annie."
He held out his hand, but she threw her arms round his neck, and
kissed him.
"You have never kissed me, not once," she said reproachfully, "and you
were going away without it, now. Your mother kisses me, and the
English girls in the harem always used to do so."
"But that is different, Annie. Girls and women do kiss each other, but
boys and girls do not kiss, unless they are brothers and sisters, or
are relations, or something of that sort."
"But you are not a boy. You are a great big man, Dick."
"I am not much more than a boy yet, Annie. However, there is no harm
in kissing, when one is saying goodbye, so there.
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